Mephisto 2848 by Tim Moorey – Happy Birthday Macnutt

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
A slightly strange grid with 20 across clues and only 16 down and hence quite a number of 4 letter words.

This puzzle appeared on 29th March which was Ximenes’ birthday and I have two queries arising from the application of his rules. The first is minor where at 25A my Chambers does not support the padding phrase “for the croft” – possibly it’s in the very latest edition. My second is at 6D where, if I’m reading the clue properly, I can’t make the wording work. All explanations welcome.

Across
1 CARABID – RAC reversed – A-BID; a real beetle, not the car;
7 ILEA – hidden I(so)L(at)E(d-c)A(se);
10 OTAKU – (out)* surrounds A-K(eyboard); Japanese computer geeks;
11 NOONERS – NO-ONE-RS; lust at lunchtime (congess=sexual relations);
12 STEGODONT – STE(GO-DON)T; bet=GO; extinct mammal;
13 FRAB – FR-AB(out); worry;
16 PITIER – P(IT)IER;
17 PYONER – P(YON)ER; PER=person; that=YON; old word for pioneer;
18 PRIAL – P-RIAL; good hand in brag;
19 UGLI – UG-LI(ke); old word for loathe=UG; fruit producer;
21 NENE – NE-NE; old word for not=NE; rare bird;
22 CADIE – CA-DIE; about=CA; old porter in Perth;
23 OBERON – (borneo)*; moon of Uranus;
25 ICKERS – (p)ICKERS; my Chambers just gives “ear of corn” as definition – nothing about “for the croft”;
27 ISIS – (cr)ISIS; crown=cr;
29 HORS,LA,LOI – HORS(e)-LALO-I; heroin=horse; French composer=LALO; independent=I; outlawed in Ostend;
30 LYOMERI – LYO(n)-MERI; club=MERI;
31 UTTER – (b)UTTER; baron=b;
32 ESTS – EST-S; special=S; awareness programmes;
33 FOSTERS – two meanings cobber;
 
Down
1 COOF – C(O-O)F; centre-forward=CF; over=O; stupid in Stirling;
2 ATTRITE – A-TT-R-ITE(m); dry=TT; run=R (cricket); marmelize in Mildenhall;
3 RABATINES – RABAT-(l)INES; old collars;
4 BUTTER-COOLER – B-UTTER-COOLER; bravo=B (phonetic alphabet); can=prison=COOLER;
5 INEBRIANT – I(nquiry)-N(ot)-E(nough)-BR-I-AN-(Chilco)T; indeed=aye=I; heady is definition;
6 BOOTYLICIOUS – I think this is (is absolutely cooing)* minus “gals” and “ne” from (o)ne; what is “such” doing?; how does the clue work? what is the definition – it means a girl with a nice arse;
7 INDY – (w)INDY:
8 ERNIE – ER(N)IE; nationalist=N;
9 ASTERIDS – (disaster)*; see Asterias in Chambers;
14 SPADILLIO – SPA-DILL-I-O; the ace of spades;
15 ANGLESITE – ANGLE-SITE;
16 PINOCHLE – PIN(OC-HL)E; OC=Officer Commanding; HL=House of Lords; long=PINE; a card game;
20 L-DRIVER – L(DR)IVER;
24 BUOYS – sounds like “boys” who are traditionally dressed in blue when babies;
26 ISMS – I-SMS;
28 SARS – S(e)ARS;

9 comments on “Mephisto 2848 by Tim Moorey – Happy Birthday Macnutt”

  1. Doesn’t “for the croft” just mean that it is a Scottish word? Both croft and icker have “Scot” in the references in Chambers.

    I thought 6 d was “just” a really complicated &lit (if I’ve got that right?). I mean that the clue is the cryptic AND the definition.
    Maybe there’s something else – she’s got no top AND a nice arse!

    Thank you as ever for the blogs.

    1. Yes, I buy that about the croft

      I think you’re probably right about 6D but I still can’t make it work – must be missing something

  2. “Such” is needed to indicate that the answer is part of the anagram content used. As an adjectival equivalent of “this”, it seems OK to me (and strictly speaking the def is “with a nice arse” rather than “girl with …”). The Chambers definition is “(of a woman’s figure, esp the buttocks) attractively curvaceous)”, so the doctor’s reaction is possible if not absolutely guaranteed.

    Edited at 2015-04-05 11:15 am (UTC)

  3. TYVMI, dorsetjimbo.

    So far I’ve only been able to find I as an abbreviation for INDEED in phrases such as the above
    Thank You Very Much Indeed. AFI for A Friend Indeed seems to be used quite commonly too.
    I’m wondering where to look for I = INDEED as a separate abbreviation.

    Oh, a ‘genuine’ slip … that Scottish city in 1 down!

    Stronon

    1. I’m not sure, but I think I=AYE is what is meant. It is there in Chambers. I seem to remember that I has been used in this way before in the Mephisto, but as far as I can recall the synonym for AYE (as I assume is meant) has always been INDEED. Which is a long-winded way of saying you might be right and the reference is to AFI and other abbreviations.
    2. I’ve changed the blog to show the transition from “indeed” to “aye” to “i”

      Thanks for spotting the typo in 1D

  5. I also had a question mark next to BOOTYLICIOUS which was my last one in. The rest didn’t seem to take too much teasing out, and it was all finished in one session.
  6. Just to confirm, definition 3 for “I” in Chambers is “same as aye(1)”, and that in turn has “indeed” as a definition. Alternative spelling rather than abbreviation, I’d say.

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